Disclaimer: I wish I was Tina Fey, but I'm not, so nothing belongs to me...
A/N: This is a Christmas present for a friend... Reviews would be nice :)
Christmas Mistakes
Liz Lemon furrowed her brows in confusion as she realized that the glass in her hand wasn't holding eggnog (which is what it would've been supposed to do) and that a suspiciously clear liquid had replaced it. She had no idea when that had happened, but after a one year break, the writers' Ludachristmas party had gotten a little out of hand and she had just gone along with everybody else, definitely not going easy on the eggnog.
Sniffing the substance in her glass, all she could smell was that it was clearly high in alcohol content and so she drowned it with a shrug, enjoying the additional buzz it gave her.
Christmas music was blaring from a stereo and green and red articles of clothing blurred before her eyes as she tried to focus and search the room for some more of what she'd had just now. The mood in the room was definitely good, although Liz wasn't quite sure if the reason was her employee's Christmas spirit or a spirit of a whole different sort. As far as she could tell, alcohol was flowing without limits and nobody – not even Kenneth, who was dancing rather deliriously on his own – seemed to be sober anymore.
Scanning the crowd, she spotted Jenna. Liz rose to her toes in order to catch her friend's attention, but the blonde star of TGS was way too busy throwing her head back in laughter, obviously flirting with some guy who looked somewhat familiar to Liz. Was that... Marc? If it was, he was one of the under-payed stagehands without any kind of physical attractivity and without any reason Jenna would be interested in him.
Blame it on the alcohol, Liz decided, remembering the task she'd had on mind before she'd caught sight of Jenna and so she continued her quest for more liquor. Finally snatching a bottle of Vodka away from someone who probably wasn't the most important person, as she had no idea who the hand that had been holding the bottle until now belonged to.
Concentrated on refilling her glass (which actually turned out to be more difficult than she'd thought), she didn't watch her steps and therefore did not see that Jack Donaghy had turned up on the doorstep and that she was walking right into her boss. Only when their bodies collided and his arms wrapped around her waist to steady her, she realized whom she had bumped into.
"Sorry, Jack," she told him, her words a little slurred. Her eyes met his for a moment before they longingly wandered back to the glass in her hand.
"Everything ok, Lemon?" Jack asked, taking a step back to look at Liz who seemed to be swaying back and fourth as soon as his supporting grip loosened. Grinning at him, she nodded, taking a long awaited sip from her glass, when suddenly the music stopped and conversations silenced.
Giving the crowd a puzzled look, she noticed someone pointing over her head. With a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, she turned, noticing for the first time the mistletoe that was dangling right over her and Jack's heads as if to mock them on purpose.
"Oh damnit," she muttered, glaring at all the faces looking back at her, eager to see the kiss of the couple everyone in the building somehow seemed to secretly ship. "Not gonna happen," she told them, although her voice came out weaker than she had planned and the mob seemed to take on the scent of the tiniest insecurity in her words.
"Kiss!" someone yelled and all at once everyone joined into the chanting. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The voices seemed to buzz like bees in Liz' head and she reached for Jack's arm to steady herself. Shaking her head decisively "no" to the crowd, the buzz only got louder.
Looking at Jack warily, she straightened her shoulders and drowned her Vodka in one go, telling herself "What the heck." before throwing the glass over her shoulder where it hit the wall, the sound of breaking glass drowning in the noise.
With sudden, new-found courage, Liz grabbed Jack's neck and pulled him down to let their lips collide. Tense at first, Jack finally started reciprocating the kiss and she even felt his tongue flicking over her lower lip a few times, before the sudden cheering and clapping let them pull apart.
"Satisfied?" Liz asked grumpily, but the glare she had wanted to send the crowd was broken by a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The crowd responded with a loud cheer before Christmas music was turned on again and the party continued, save for two unmoving faces who were still staring at Liz in disbelief.
The grin continuing to spread over her face, she just shrugged at Jenna and Kenneth, chuckling quietly over their reactions, before taking a step closer to Jack and telling him to meet her at the elevator in five.
Leaving him quite baffled, she ducked into the mass of people, hoping that the exit she planned in a few minutes to go unnoticed. Until then, she'd just have to put up a good act and pretend that the kiss was just what it had been supposed to be – a method to stop the chanting. For a moment, she played with the thought of making herself believe that it hadn't been something more than that, but quickly threw it away as she was still well aware of the way Jack's tongue had felt on her lip and the hungry look he'd given her when they had parted.
Too late Liz realized that Jenna was coming directly her way and there really wasn't an option to escape her. "Care to explain what exactly happened right now?" the blonde asked, an angry and confused frown on her face. "I thought there was nothing going on between the two of you?!"
"There isn't," Liz stated calmly, uncomfortably shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She wasn't even lying, although at the moment she really wished she was. "The mob would have eaten us alive if we hadn't kissed! And really, it was more of a peck anyway," she defended herself, knowing very well that this time the facts weren't all that true.
"Nothing happened." Squeezing Jenna's arm assuringly, she pointed over her friend's back. "Look! I think they're setting up a mic for karaoke!" she exclaimed in fake excitement and Jenna gasped, the thrill of anticipation clearly visible on her face.
Liz used the moment of distraction and ducked away, disappearing out of Jenna's sight. A quick glance at her wristwatch told her that ten minutes hadn't quite passed yet, so she stopped at the almost cleared table that had served as a buffet and picked out the few remaining whole cookies. Stuffing one of them into her mouth, she took a deep breath. A sugar rush was almost as good as alcohol at giving her courage, she thought, taking a bite off the next one before straightening the green skirt she had put on for that day's occasion (a red belt around her waist completing her Christmas outfit). Placing one hand over her abdomen to help even her breathing, she started to walk into the direction of the elevator, praying that this time no Jenna would hold her back this time.
As she left the room and came closer to the elevator with each step, her heart started to race. What if he wasn't there? She hadn't waited for an answer, after all. Jack probably thought she was on drugs... Or maybe just drunk. He couldn't have taken her seriously, not with the Vodka in her hand and the alcohol on her breath! On top of that she had probably been imagining things all along. Maybe he'd hated the kiss?
Uncomfortably chewing her lower lip, Liz' steps slowed down until it felt like she was barely moving. The elevator was just around the corner... Should she just walk the other way and pretend that she was looking for the lady's room and be a coward or should she just endure the embarrassment of Jack not waiting for her?
Swallowing her anxiety, she combed her fingers through her hair, wishing for a mirror to check her appearance before she took the last step that lead her around the corner. Already prepared for disappointment, she didn't even realize that Jack was waiting impatiently by the metal doors, eyes wide and fixed on Liz until he softly called her name.
"Lemon. I didn't think you'd actually come," he told her in a voice even deeper than usual that sent shivers up her back. Swallowing again, she slowly walked up to Jack and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Let's get out of here," she whispered in his ear, surprised at the courage she hadn't known she possessed.
All Jack could do was nod and just that moment the soft pling announced that the elevator had arrived to come to his rescue. They kept at distance, their eyes fixed on the closing doors until they started moving. The built up anxiety resolved within moments when their lips were suddenly locked again. Liz briefly wondered how she had overcome the space between them so quickly before that thought made way to the more important matters in her mind.
This time, Jack's tongue didn't stop at tracing her lower lip but was soon granted access as the kiss grew more heated. Liz' heartbeat fastened dangerously and she let out a soft gasp when she felt his hand rest heavily on her ass making her body collide on full length with his.
Locking her fingers behind Jack's neck, Liz broke the kiss for a moment to catch her breath before leaning into him again. His hands found their way to the small of her back, hugging her tightly to him as lips collided once more.
Only when the elevator announced they had reached the ground floor, Liz stepped away from Jack and made a lame attempt at straightening her hair and clothes, not even bothering to worry about her lipstick.
As the doors opened, a decent amount of space lay between them again and they stepped out of the elevator as casually as possible.
"We'll go to your place," Jack announced as they left the NBC building. The cold would've usually made Liz realize that she had left her coat in her office, but for now, her body was so heated up she didn't even notice the soft white clouds her breath formed in the clear air of the night.
.........
Flashes of naked skin – hot and sweaty – made their way into Liz' head as the brunette was slowly waking up. Shrugging it off as scenes from some sleazy romance movie (that might've just been R-rated) she had to have seen some time or other, she turned around and tried to fall back to sleep, when the scent of distinctive male aftershave triggered some more images in her head.
Images of her, lips locked with none other than Jack Donaghy. Images of clothes leaving a trail on their way to her bedroom. Distinctive images of her sleeping with her boss.
The second realization set in, Liz' eyes flew open and panic settled in the pit of her stomach. Carefully feeling for a second body in her bed, she turned her head, burying it in her pillow, groaning softly.
Jack was still there, sleeping like a stone and Liz had no idea what she was supposed to do now. Had it been his place, she'd obviously gotten dressed and sneaked out, but this was her apartment and her bed and he was supposed to be the one dressing quietly and leaving her without a note of goodbye.
Helplessly squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she decided to just wait for him to do just that, while pretending to be asleep.
When she had finally pushed all of last night's disturbingly hot memories aside, she didn't even have to pretend anymore as her mind and body gladly slipped back into sleep.
The next time Liz woke up, the first thing she did was extend her hand and feel for any foreign matter (namely Jack) between her sheets. Only after she came up empty she dared to open her eyes and carefully sit up. After getting accustomed to the uncomfortable, dull headache that now served as a constant reminder of her alcohol consumption during the Ludachristmas party she'd attended the previous day. The alcohol consumption that had lead to the horrible mistake of sleeping with her boss and probably the best friend she currently had.
She covered her face with both hands for a moment, taking a moment to get used to the whole idea (with a fairly awake mind), before she peeked through her fingers to search the room for any traces that Jack might have left, only uncovering her eyes completely once she was sure that no pants, shirt or socks that didn't belong to her had been left.
Slipping on a pair of boxer shorts and an overlarge t-shirt, she stumbled out of her bedroom without bothering to grab her glasses which promptly lead to her tripping over some kind of obstacle she couldn't exactly make out and fall flat on her face.
Groaning in defeat, she just rested her forehead on the cool wooden floor for a moment, startling to death when she suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Lemon, are you ok?," the unmistakable voice of Jack Donaghy asked, which only triggered the almost irresistible urge in Liz to bang her head against the floorboards. "Yes," she replied muffled, absolutely set on remaining in her current position until Jack would just give it up.
Unfortunately he didn't stop at asking but instead turned her around and helped her get to her feet, swallowing hard as he took in Liz' current state of dress (or rather undress).
"Liz, talk to me. I'm taking you to the hospital if you don't say something right now," he told her in an all-too serious tone that finally got her to look up. "It's alright, ok? I'm fine," she glared at him with her lips set in a full pout, before she walked right by him, following the scent of freshly brewed coffee.
After gulping down half a cup in one go, she finally had the feeling that she was in a proper state to face Jack. "I'm sorry. I just -. I thought you'd left," she told him, her voice sounding a little more desperate than she'd intended. "I wanted you to leave. I don't want to have this conversation. It was a mistake, ok? I was drunk and... and... you should've stopped me!" When it became obvious that Liz was only rambling, she decisively shut her mouth and stared at her bare feet, thoughts briefly grazing the toes she hated so much before they went back to the matter in hand. "I'm sorry," she repeated in defeat, glancing at Jack's unreadable face before she let her eyes drop to her feet again.
"Ok, then," Jack sighed, carefully stepping closer to Liz and wrapping his arms around her. "We'll forget this ever happened." Dropping a kiss in her hair, he held on for a little longer, smiling at the hesitating return of his embrace. "We'll go back to the way it was before," He calmly stated, not sure whether he was trying to convince Liz or himself.
Stepping back he locked eyes with Liz who was guiltily chewing her lower lip, not at all knowing how to handle that situation. "I'll... I'll see you at work, I guess," he told her, still not receiving any kind of response.
He moved further away from Liz and closer to the door. "Take care, Lemon," he told her, a sad half-smile dancing on his lips, not sure if he could really keep the promise of just erasing the previous night out of his mind.
Just before Jack stepped out of Liz' apartment, he heard a weak "Bye" and while he wandered down the corridor, trying to sort the confusion Liz had created inside of him, Liz remained in the same spot, staring at the closed door and wondering if telling Jack off hadn't been a bigger mistake than sleeping with him in the first place.
The End